Along with that news, came some very hard decision making that I was forced to do! I found out that we were expecting after my year for 2013 was already FULL with weddings, so with a baby due smack in the middle of all of that fun, I knew that I couldn’t work full time with weddings, have a newborn and 3 year old AND do portraits/newborns/commercial work full time, as I usually do. SO, it is with such sadness that I had to stop doing portraits, newborns and commercial work and become a dedicated wedding photographer. My portrait clients are all very long running clients who I have a close relationship with and I simply adore them! I felt truly honored to get to enjoy time with their families every year and watch them grown…and have them choose to work with me year after year! So it was a VERY hard, tear filled decision that did NOT come easily, but after looking at an already full schedule without portraits and not wanting my new baby girl, Sophie and Mark to be the ones to suffer, it was a decision that I knew I simply didn’t have a choice on. I have a few lingering shoots that were already scheduled before the decision was made, so those will be blogged and then portraits will come to an end. As always, I’m blessed beyond words with my business and to all of my beloved portrait clients….I can’t thank you enough for years of devotion from you, it means soo much to me, as do your precious families….and I will dearly miss seeing each and every one of you! (teary again! ugh!)

Meet our beautiful new little girl (aka gymnast in the first image!)…

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Earlier this summer, Celebration Central was featured on the Fox 59 Morning News on Sherman Live! It was SUPER FUN morning and when they announced the LAUNCH BENEFIT EVENT that was just a few weekends ago!! It was the formal launch event for Celebration Central, as well as a wonderful fundraising event to benefit a friend of ours, little Ruby Kahoun and the JUST WIN RUBY foundation! We loved seeing soo many dear friends and family members…and having a great summer afternoon together!! Thank you for everyone who came out and supported the new company…and contributed to Ruby’s foundation!!

If you need any GREAT party rental items or inflatables, you have to check out celebrationcentralpartyrental.com!!

FOX 59 MORNING NEWS, SHERMAN LIVE!

THE CELEBRATION CENTRAL LAUNCH EVENT & BENEFIT FOR THE JUST WIN RUBY FOUNDATION…..

SPECIAL THANKS to the following people to contributed to this event and helped make it a great success…

LGI Linens

Fabulously Fun Face Painting Company

Stahlhut Amusements

Irish Acres Stables

Westfield Fire Department

Classic Car Carriers

The Flower Salon

The Country Market & Pumpkinfest

Copper Moon Entertainment

Pro Sound Inc.

Boone County Sheriff’s Department

Hooper Septic & Excavating

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Sophie has spent a little more than one month refining the art of being 2 years old…and she’s doing quite well! She is every bit of 2 that she could be….cracking us up, melting us to pieces with her cuteness and making us wanna scream all at the same time!

-she no longer talks, she just SCREAMS everything

-when we tell her that we are in charge and she will listen and obey us, she screams NO, I’M IN CHARGE! (yea, we are working on her TONE!)

-when not screaming, she is singing (she hasn’t really stopped since she was 1 year old) AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS. Every song she knows (and her playlist is quite long, at least 20 songs), on a loop, intermixed, with the words changed…however she can make ANYTHING into a song. The song making the longest run as the top hit of her songlist is WHEELS ON THE BUS. We hear it in our sleep.

-she refuses all help and says I DO IT ALL BY MYSELF at every chance she gets. (again, working on the tone!)

-she spontaneously gives compliments (i liiiiiike your haaaaair, mommy!, your naaaaails are prettttttty mommy, your shooooooes are niiiiice mommy) and if she is complimenting me on something that she can steal, she will promptly steal it after complimenting it. So watch out if she compliments you. Whenever she shows up at home with something that isn’t hers, I have a good idea of what went down…the compliment and steal when distracted tactic. (we are working on sharing and not taking what’s not ours…wish us luck)

-after loving something (a toy/book/song/food/outfit/etc) for weeks and even up to that very moment, she will suddenly annouce that she DOESN’T LIKE IT ANYMOOOOOOORE. (which is often followed by it being hurled across the room) (((yea, we are working on not throwing too.))

-she would wear flip flops 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if given a choice. in the snow. in the rain. on top of her footie pajamas. to bed.

-she has an uncanny awareness of any plans-to-be-doing-something-fun/candy-being-opened/surprise-coming kind of moments because she will quickly stop all that she is doing, come right to your feet, look at you with this I KNOW YOU ARE UP TO SOMETHING face and say “WHATCHA DOING?? or WHATCA GOT!? or WHATCHA EATIN?”

-she definitely likes Mark more than she likes me…but that’s ok.

-she spends 98% of her life with her tongue sticking out. I don’t know why…but I’ve told her the whole story about the fly, too. So far, it hasn’t helped.

-she loves to dance and chooses the FUNNIEST times to bust a move…such as when the song MONEY MONEY MONEEEEY comes on at the beginning of Celebrity Apprentice.

-she, at the ripe old age of 2, have mastered the art of manipulation, distraction (the minute you start to discipline her, she will suddenly start proclaiming that she has POOP and is HUNGRY and has a BOO BOO) and trying to control everything. Then, if you continue to discipline her or try to explain something to her, she starts saying NO NO NO MORE TALKING, MOMMY! NO TALKING!, just so that she can talk over me and get her point across instead of listening to me. I often confuse her for a 16 year old due to this.

-when something crosses her as being COOL…she remembers it for DAYS and likes to make US remember it for days. Yesterday, while playing sitting outside she saw a guy on a motorbike riding through a field, try to jump the mounds of dirt…and she is stilllll talking about him to this minute and has asked me where he is 94 times since then. And when I tell her that he probably went home or I just don’t know, she says (while nodding her head in a VERY sure way, a quick nod with every syllable said) HE WILL COME BACK MOMMY, HE WILL!

-she is NOT afraid of anything, has a scary sense of independence (that is giving me gray hair), is pretty confident that she is 5 (NOT 2) and openly tells people that.

-she is getting curly hair and it makes me smile to see her little fuzzy head of blonde curls walk into my room in the morning with her sleepy eyes and her “flower blankey” wrapped around her like a toga. It’s an even bigger smile if that happens after the hour of 7am and I have not seen her at any time throughout the course of the night.

-she wants every boo boo kissed and then she promptly RUNS to the freezer to get a boo boo buddy! MOMS: if you don’t have boo boo buddies, waltz yourself over to Target and get them, they are GENIUS and magically take the aftermath of a BOO BOO occurance down to seconds. Wish I would have thought to create them!!

-NO is currently her favorite word. (we are working on that too) To everything and anything that she doesn’t agree with/like/want/have to do/or just because she can say it.

-she would live on a swing, if we let her. So would I, so she gets it really honestly.

-I wanna KISS her 24 hours a day and she gets very annoyed and pushes me away and says NO KISSING ME ANYMORE MOMMY, OK!?!

-when she wants something that she knows she won’t get, she whispers it and smiles while whispering it because she MUST KNOW that she turns into the cutest human being that ever existed when she does that and I CAVE IN every time!!

-she can navigate an Ipad better than the people at the Apple Store.

-her absolute favorite letter is O and she will find O’s everywhere and anywhere we go. And she loudly says OOOOOO when she finds one, waving her arms as she points to it.

-She loves babies. LOVES babies. Borderline obsessed. She has many many dolls….but she wants a REAL baby. I told her that we would see what we could do about that. Then she requested a SISTER. and has requested a SISTER every other day since then…and that was about 8 months ago. Never ONCE has she asked for a brother. God, I hope you are listening or I’m afraid things are going to get ugly at our house when that time comes.

-she will get her books out and “read the story” on her own, which means she will make up the story with her own story. And it’s really cute. The stories almost always involve her cousins, going the park, putting on shoes and then someone almost ALWAYS gets put in time out. (well, at least she is paying attention when we discipline, but she’s not gotten to the learning from it part yet)

-she still has a steadfast love of the MOON and searches for it every night, just like she has since we was 10 months old and couldn’t even walk yet. when it’s cloudy, she still throws her hands out in confusion and says “where is the MOOOON?”.

-she has a MEAN temper (which really does scare me a bit for the teenage years) and the SWEETEST disposition, all at the same time….good thing she is 2 or we would have her evaluated for bi-polar.

-because we are coffee addicts and she knows that the very first thing we do every morning is go straight to the coffee maker, she requests coffee of her own. So, every morning, she gets coffee (warm milk with a hint of hot cocoa powder). Then, she will often say “I NEED COFFEE!!!!” at other times in the day/anytime we are at a coffeeshop or the store….and other people look at us like we are giving drugs to a 2 year old kid.

-when telling a story, she gets VERY animated (insert joke: i have NO idea where she gets that. funny! haha!) and tips her head to the side, pops her eyes wide open and nods with every descriptive word she says and trys to tell you the story like she’s convincing you (or herself) that it’s true. Maybe it’s something that you have to see, but take my word, it’s hysterical.

-at bedtime, I always sing her the exact same goodnight song…and when she has met a new friend that day, she requests that their name be added to the goodnight song (when we sing goodnight to all of our family and close friends)…which I think is precious. Then, when I lay her down, I tell her that I love her and sweet dreams…and in the sweetes, softest, sleepiest voice that I’ve ever heard, she says sweeeeeeet dreams mommy. MELLLLLLT.

I told Mark yesterday that when I step back and just watch her, I actually an in AWE, in the deepest form of the word, that we MADE her. and she is OURS. and she is the most beautiful thing I’ve EVER LAID EYES ON. and she makes me CRAZY, and I’m soo in love with her. Even if she is the terriblest of 2′s at the current time!

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It’s fair to say (just ask the guys at Roberts) that I’ve been WAITING for this camera for years. Why? Because until now, Canon simply didn’t have the type of focusing system that I believed was required in a professional camera system. They HAVE mastered that art of beautiful image files, lovely color, the ability to capture light in a way that turns it into melted butter….it’s just that yummy, the lens selection that everyone wants, etc. In a nutshell, Canon has it ALL….but NONE of that matters if the focus isn’t reliable. Now, don’t get me wrong, Canon cameras can focus beautifully, just not 100% of the time on a reliable basis…and certainly NOT on the various focus points across the viewfinder.

Interestingly, in my studio & business, I had the luxury of comparing Canon and Nikon directly because (until last week! welcome to the DARK SIDE, Erika!!) I had a business divided with my lovely studio manager and full time second photographer, Erika, shooting NIKON and myself shooting CANON. So, I was able to really SEE the differences side by side and in my opinion, Canon WINS. Why? Because the image files are far superior in appearance, tone, color, dynamic range and contrast. I like to shoot in slightly challenging light situations, typically…what you are really taught NOT to do….like shooting directly into the sun, shooting in BRIGHT sunlight, heavily backlighting people, shooting with tons of light flare, intentionally overexposing things a bit, ETC, so with that considered, Canon simply does it better. Nikon just can’t capture the light like I want it to be captured. So, in all honestly, I resorted to overshooting a bit to compensate for the focus issue, but in order to have the scenes and light captured as I wanted it.

So, for me, a RELIABLE focusing system 100% of the time, combined with all of the other qualities I mentioned about would be THE PERFECT CAMERA, hence what the Mark III claimed to be. It would be the first time that Canon had completely overhauled the entire focusing system…and THAT was what I had been waiting for. Not another claim of improvement, but a complete and total change. Of course, other things are very important to me, such as a full frame sensor, high ISO abilities with low noise, a locking shooting mode dial, silent shooting mode for some of the more sensitive shoots that I photograph, high FPS option, improved chromatic abberation, and much more….and those were ADDED benefits of the new camera system that were the icing on the cake. My priority though, as I’ve clearly stated, was the FOCUSING.

I went into Roberts, smiling from ear to ear, and went out with the highest expectations I’ve EVER had of a camera since I walked into that same camera store YEARS ago to pick up my Mamiya 645 AF medium film camera that had the 6×4.5 film plane with the convenience of auto exposure and auto focus for the first time in a medium format camera. So, I shot personal things with it for several days before using it on a wedding, which I did this past weekend.

OVERALL REVIEW:

In a nutshell, I’m VERY PLEASED with the results and I LOVE the camera. While I hate to soo quickly turn negative….is it the perfection I was expecting, NO. It is a VAST improvement over the 5D and 5DMarkII. Although, for the kind of shooter that maxes out the ability of a camera due to the volume of shooting that I do and the permanent calluses in all of the places where I hold my camera to show for it, I just MIGHT be more picky than most.

I will say that there are MORE improvements and positive things than downfalls…and I don’t think I’ve been able to say that about a camera upgrade in the past. Yes, the cameras are always getting BETTER, but NOT in the areas that are most important to most photographers who are high volume shooters and depend on reliability where it matters.

The 5D II was a major improvement over the 5D (which was also great and a nice improvement over the 20D and 10D) but for the mark II, the priority went to video…which is amazing in it’s own right, but simply didn’t address the major issues of the bread and butter of the Canon pro industry in their midline of cameras, which are wedding photographers. I appreciate that both photographers and videographers are getting equal improvements on this new camera.

For the Mark III, the focusing is DRAMATICALLY better. It still misses at times, but at a fraction of the rate that it did with the previous models. In my opinion, the mark II had a 50% success rate and the mark III has about an 85% success rate. Also, what might be considered to be the BIGGEST improvement is that you can actually USE the outer focusing points, which was simply not an option in the past on a regular use basis. The new focusing system is actually something that takes a little time to learn and streamline to your own sweet spot, there are many more options than in the past so playing with those options is something I’m still in the midst of. The camera focuses well, despite the different choices, though. I might even go so far to say that soo many minor focus adjustment options on such a tiny selected area of focus are a bit of overkill.

DOWNFALLS:

1. The focusing points still don’t stretch the entire width of the viewable range, like a Nikon does, they are only within the inner 50% of the frame. That was a bummer for me.  I like to hug the corners of the frame in a lot of my shooting and shoot in the far 1/3rds of the frame, so I would much prefer the option to go further out into the viewable area for a focus selection point…but it’s not there yet.

2. My dream feature wasn’t added. I’ve long been hoping that Canon would incorporate it’s FACE DETECTION TECHNOLOGY available on it’s point and shoot cameras into it’s pro line of cameras. I know it may sound silly, but have you ever USED that feature on the point and shoots? As much as I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it, it’s MORE reliable than manually putting the focus point on the face on a pro Canon camera. So, I have always thought that, if they could advance that technology a bit and adapt that into a professional camera, it would be amazing. I was hoping this camera would have it, but it doesn’t. I think it would be amazing to have the CHOICE to do the work manually with the focusing OR choose my focusing point when I want something specific OR tell it to find the faces everytime when that is the priority….and have ALL of those options provide consistent, reliable focus. The NEXT camera that I will be this excited for is the one when they OFFER THAT!

3. It is also still slower than I would like on the ability to “grab” the focusing point, get it focused accurately and SHOOT. Nikon has that one in the bag….it can grab it and shoot it perfectly before I can even get a subject looking at me….but Canon still has room to grow on that. What I DO like is that now, I have the CHOICE of shooting HIGH FPS. So, it’s faster when that option is chosen and while that is great, I wish it would just grab the focus faster too.

4. One specific thing that I did notice and I’m working on figuring out now is the ability to SEE where the focusing point is when you are shooting. This may not really be a downfall if I can figure out a way to improve it. Now that I can MOVE the focusing point, I’m taking advantage of that but I’ve noticed that I have a really hard time seeing where the focusing point is, sometimes. Especially if it’s over something dark, such a a TUXEDO! I’ve chosen the option to illuminate the focusing point, but that doesn’t seem to help. That’s my biggest complaint about the focusing at this time….because the images that I’ve found that were out of focus where times when the focus was in the wrong spot, but I could TELL that it was because I could see that area where it was selected.

5. Minor stuff….I am not a huge fan of the change on the zoom button and the menu button, my mind is kind of refusing to adjust. I also feel like it takes longer to get the the format card function within the menus.

IMPROVEMENTS:

1. The outer focusing points are nearly 100% improved….it’s fantastic to have the option to USE those and trust that I’m going to get good results. I’m not forced to focus and recompose…and when shooting nearly wide open, have the increased chance of missing the plan of focus that is already very narrow, in my force to use the focus and recompose method. Kudos, Canon….nicely done on that.

2. The image files are really beautiful. The SOOC files are fantastic. Lovely color, great dynamic range, balanced tone, true whites and blacks…nearly everything you could ask for. The improved dual layer metering system is evident.

3. The high ISO abilities are really amazing. I can actually shoot at 6400, not that I will, but I CAN…and it looks GOOD….and that’s kind of amazing. Below, I have posted an SOOC shot at 25,600. That room was nearly BLACK and that image, in my opinion, looks great for being shot at that exposure.

4. Improved chromatic abberation. Due to the fact that I like shooting into light, I get the natural “halo” of chromatic abberation a LOT and so I fight it…and having an improvement on that is great. It’s not 100% improved, but it’s better…and I will take better!

5. High FPS, as mentioned above….for candids , first dances, sequence images…that is priceless.

6. Silent shooting mode. I photograph situations where I wish the loud sound of my shutter wasn’t the only thing breaking the silence…and I like that I can finally change that.

7. FINALLY, we can lock the shoot mode dial. That should have been done on the very first camera ever released, so thanks for waking up and realizing it was 2012 Canon.

8. The ability to RATE images. In cases where photographers do same day edits (I do not), that would be SOO valuable. When you shoot something you know you love, just quickly rate it in camera and pull only your rated image for your slideshows. Super helpful.

9. Ability to change focusing screen grid digitally instead of having to actually purchase a different one.

And there are more…

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

There are LOTS of features that I haven’t even touched yet…such as multiple exposure, HDR shooting (not that I do any of that), raw processing in camera(not sure I understand the point of that!?), auto lighting optimizer (which was useless in the mark II, IMHO), auto scene intelligence mode, AF config. tool for shooting fast moving subjects(looks cool!), so I bet I will have more to love once I have the chance to play a bit more.

Funny side notes: It SOUNDS different. The ON switch is in a different spot, but there is a new lock button where the ON/OFF was at, so I think I’ve locked and unlocked the camera a LOT.

The one thing that I didn’t even really think about prior to the camera purchase was the POST PROCESSING LIMITATION. I knew it, but with the fact that years pass between camera models, I just forget.  A friend reminded me that Lightroom couldn’t read the Mark III RAW files yet and that you have to use Adobe Camera Raw to convert them to DNG files and then they would be able to be read by Lightroom.

You can view instructions/downloads on how to do that here:

http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2012/03/adobe-camera-raw-6-7-and-dng-converter-6-7-available-on-adobe-labs.html

CONCLUSION:

Overall, the camera is fantastic….the best 5D yet, without a shadow of a doubt. And if a previous Nikon shooter is happier than I’ve ever seen her shooting a wedding (ERIKA!) because she has moved to Canon and is holding a new 5D Mark III, I think that speaks volumes.

EXAMPLE IMAGES: All STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA, NO POST PROCESSING AT ALL. THE WEB IS ACTUALLY MAKING THEM LOOK ALMOST A 1/2 STOP DARKEN THEN THEY TRULY ARE AND SLIGHTLY MORE MUDDY.  EXIF INFO INCLUDED.

Lovely tonal balance, metering balance, white rendition and outer focus point ability. Eyes are brighter in actual image. LENS: 85mm 1.2 L | ISO 400 | f/2.2 | 1/2500

Incredible ISO ability (25,600!!!), shot in a nearly BLACK room and outer focus point used in super low light! Yes, the color needs corrected, but just an example of the ISO ability. LENS: 50mm 1.2  L | ISO 25,600 | f/2.2 | 1/160

Lovely color and tonal balance, metering balance when purposefully overexposed to enhance softness/brightness and outer focus point ability. LENS: 35mm 1.4 L | ISO 100 | f/2.2 | 1/100

Chromatic abberation improvement when shooting into light and focus ability with backlit subject. LENS: 50mm 1.2 L | ISO 8000 | f/2.2 | 1/160

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In honor of Sophie’s second birthday and HELLO KITTY party, we painted her nails pink and Erika captured the fun!

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From my family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!!

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Meet Wesley…the lovable charmer…

And Willow, the innocent and sweet one…

Melissa & Gary live on a fantastic, warm, inviting ranch so we did a part of our shoot that reflected that feeling…

And then we did some bright, fun ones too!!

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